My Little Pony: Zodiac Adventures

by Silverfox Shadows

Chapter 4

The shows My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and Jackie Chan Adventures and any characters from either of these are the copyrighted property of their respective owners. Neither of those owners is me.
Sorry this took so long, my finals are finally over and I have a break until May so back to work full steam! Writing the Apple Family’s accent is tough. I doubt I got it right, debating if I should just drop it and let it be assumed it’s there next time. On with the show!

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My Little Pony: Zodiac Adventures
Chapter Three: Ox

Twilight Sparkle was vaguely aware of voices around her, distorted by the fog that clouded her mind. She opened her eyes and groaned quietly as her vision cleared. She was aware of being on her back with something heavy over her. She tried to get it off and sit up but could only manage a weak kick of her front legs as she tried to remember where she was and what was happening. She was vaguely aware of a change in the voices around her, though she still couldn’t quite make out what they were saying. Suddenly, white and green filled her blurry vision and she felt something lightly press a point against her head. A gentle light filled her sight and the fog over her thoughts began to clear as if under the rays of the sun. She remembered now! She’d come back to Ponyville after being given a mission by Princess Celestia! She’d found the first of the twelve talismans with Spike! She…she’d been defeated by the strange dark creatures and they’d gotten the talisman… In their first encounter, the demon’s forces had won. Twilight remembered watching where they’d disappeared for a while before the adrenaline began to fade away and the pain from the fight began to kick in. She remembered Spike running off to get help in a panic, and later being brought to Ponyville hospital and being given some kind of medicine by Nurse Redheart, then everything went fuzzy and dark.

“How are you feeling, Twilight Sparkle?”

Twilight recognized that voice! She blinked her eyes a few times as the blur of white and green began to focus into the concerned face of her mentor, Princess Celestia. “Princess!” Twilight squeaked out surprised. “What are you doing here?” Princess Celestia simply gave Twilight a small smile as she lifted her head back away. “When I’d received news that you’d been hurt attempting to retrieve one of the talismans for me, I came as soon as I was able, my precious student.” Twilight’s mind raced with questions, the Princess of Equestria merely stepped back and allowed Nurse Redheart and Doctor Caramel to approach. As the two medical ponies checked on Twilight’s health, she continued speaking, as if she knew Twilight’s questions before she asked them. “When you’d fallen asleep from the medication, Spike took it upon himself to write me a letter and explain the situation as he understood it.” Celestia motioned slightly with her wing and Twilight looked down, as last noticing the weight she had felt as being Spike’s head resting on her belly as the baby dragon snored. “He has not left your side once since you were admitted. And you’ve had quite a few visitors while you slept or so I hear. I’m glad to see you have taken your lessons on friendship so well.” The Princess smiled at Twilight as the two medical ponies finished their tests and helped the purple unicorn up. “The Princess’s magic is amazing, injuries that should’ve taken a month, healed in just a week.” Doctor Caramel mumbled to himself in awe as he ambled out of the room. “You’ve got a clean bill of health Ms. Sparkle, but do please be more careful. That fall you took did a number on your legs and I’m not quite sure what young Spike was taking about when he brought you in but whatever caused the rest of the injuries was no joking matter.” Twilight Sparkle nodded, remembered her encounter with the dark creatures and how poorly she’d fared, she was silent for a moment as she thought before she noticed the grey unicorn guard that had no doubt come with the princess. She nodded to herself before looking at the princess with determination burning in her eyes. “Princess, I have a request I’d like to make…”

--

Apple Bloom was having a perfectly normal day helping out her family on the farm. Specifically, Bloom was setting up the empty barrels for the apples to fall into. Setting down a barrel by a tree, she nudged it into place with her hind leg so it would catch the most bucked apples, then run off to get another barrel. It was on her way back from one such trip that she was stopped by a familiar voice calling out to her. “Hey there halfpint! Helpin’ out with the Apple-buckin’ Ah see!” Apple Bloom skidded to a stop as she looked around, spotting the yellow and orange cowpony in the vest and hat that’d called out. “Cousin Braeburn! What are you doing here?” The Apple-loosan cowpony merely chuckled a little as he walked up the dirt path to Sweet Apple Acres. “Ah’ve been hearin’ some rumors about some creatures in the area and Ah decided to pay a visit and see how things are.” Stopping in front of Apple Bloom, Braeburn looked at the scene around him. “But everything seems jus fine around here, guess I was just worryin’ for nothin’. Oh! Before I forget! Here ya go little cous!” With that, Braeburn reached into the pack on his back and pulled out a small necklace of feathers and turquoise beads with a large center stone bit clipped on. “A little somethin’ Ah got from the buffalo tribe! It’s supposed tah be good luck from what I heard.” With that the cowpony dropped the small necklace over her head and letting it fall into place. Apple Bloom looked down at the necklace, lightly batting it with a hoof before smiling and hugging her cousin’s leg. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Braeburn smiled and lightly patted her head with a hoof as he looked over, the rest of the family beginning to arrive to greet him. “Well Ah’ll be! Braeburn! How’ve ya been?” Applejack called out as she trotted over, looking tired after a hard day’s work. “Should’ve sent word you were coming cousin, we’d have had somethin’ ready for you.” Big Macintosh chimed in with a simple “Eeyup” as he ambled up next to his sister. “Just lemme wrap up this last tree and we’ll start supper!” That said, Applejack began to walk tiredly to the tree Apple Bloom had just finished setting up when she was suddenly stopped by her little sister. “Ah’ll do it!” Apple Bloom called out as she quickly ran over to the tree, turned her back on it and balanced on her front legs, prepping her hind legs to kick with all her strength, not noticing a soft hissing sound from around her neck as she did. “Well now that’s very sweet of you sis but you’re a mite you-“

“KRAKKOW!!”

Every pony at Sweet Apple Acres fell suddenly silent at what had unfolded before them. Braeburn’s eyed were wide, while Applejack’s mouth hung open, whatever she was about to say forgotten. Big Macintosh could only utter a simple “…what?” at the scene before him. There stood Apple Bloom, looking behind her as surprised as any pony else. Behind her was a jagged apple tree stump, The thick trunk snapped like a twig where it had been kicked, the top half of the tree several feet away on the ground looking like it had been through a storm. In the shock, no one noticed the blue bull-head mark on the main piece of Apple Bloom’s necklace glowing with otherworldly magic, announcing its awakening to its former master hiding far away.

--

Twilight Sparkle was quiet, a look of determination on her face. She’d been released from the hospital for nearly a month now. Thanks to the princess’s magic, the cracked ribs, large bruises, and sprained leg she’d received during the encounter with the Shadow Khan had been reduced to mild aches that were now all but forgotten. Though she was still upset about losing their first talisman, the truth is Spike had probably saved her life. Had Spike not thrown the talisman, the blow the shadow khan was lining up would likely have left her crippled if not dead. Since then Twilight had been doing everything she could to prepare for the next time. She had no doubt, to collect the talismans, Twilight Sparkle would have to fight, and fight often. And so, she’d spent the past month learning how to handle herself in a fight with some of the Princess’ royal guards. It was while practicing one of the training routines her new instructors had left her that a knock came from the door and a pony with a familiar southern twang called out. “Hey Twili’! Ya in here?” Twilight let out a sigh as she relaxed from her workout and levitated a towel over to herself as she trotted over to the main room of the library. “Applejack! I’ll be right there.” She called out as she moved between rooms. Entering into the main room she spotted the cowpony standing in the middle of the room. “There ya are sugercube! We’ve barely seen hide nor hair of you since you got out of the hospital. Are y’all feeling alright?” Twilight blushed slightly, embarrassed. She had gotten so caught up in preparing herself that she had honestly not left the library much at all the whole month. “I’m sorry Applejack, I’m fine. I guess I just got so focused on what I was doing I forgot about everything else.” The purple unicorn ducked her head slightly and gave a sheepish smile up at her friend. Applejack gave a soft chuckle before throwing a hoof around her and pulling Twilight into a hug. “S’all right Sugercube, jus’ don’t go forgettin’ ya have people who care about you.” Twilight smiled at her dear friend before gently pulling out of the hug. “Don’t you worry! I won’t!” She smiled confidently, making a mental note to write a friendship report to Celestia about this later, before looking the cowpony in the eyes. “So what brings you here Applejack? Anything I can help you with?” At this, Applejack’s face took on a worried look. “Well actually, there is one thing. Past couple of days have been a mite strange with Apple Bloom. All of a sudden she’s strong enough to give Big Macintosh a run fer his money. I’m worried Twi, something about it….just ain’t natural. I’m worried she might’ve gotten ta messin’ with some kind of potion again. I was hopin’ y’all might have a book that could help me figure out what’s what? Or could take a look at her and see fer yerself?” Twilight was silent, listening to her friend before focusing her magic into her horn and levitating a few books off the shelves. “Well I know there are one or two potions and spells that feature increased strength as an effect but, if she’s really as strong as Big Macintosh then the effects sound much stronger than the books say. Sure! I’d be happy to check on Apple Bloom for you and see if there’s anything wrong or dangerous.”

As Twilight followed her dear friend down the dirt path to Sweet Apple Acres, Twilight thought about what to do next. Nearly a whole month since the attack and she hadn’t made any progress in finding the remaining talismans. The fact that those shadows had attacked meant that the demon did have some way to find them which put Twilight at a disadvantage. The chances that the remaining eleven would show up in Ponyville were pretty low. Even if they did, she had no way of telling when one appeared. She didn’t even know what any but the monkey talisman were supposed to do. How would she be able to tell when she was dealing with one and not just any regular bit of Equestrian mystery or magic. It was with this thought in mind that Twilight arrived at Sweet Apple Acres to find Apple Bloom balancing an upside down pyramid of apple barrels on her back that absolutely dwarfed her. “Well, that certainly isn’t regular Equestrian anything…” Twilight managed to quietly gasp out as she looked up at the towering stack of apple-filled barrels. “Right, I’m on it!” She said with a confident little stomp of her hoof.

--

Twilight let out a tired sigh as she teleported the last of her machines back to her lab in the basement of the library. “Hoowee, I’ll be in pretty good shape for this year’s runnin’ of the leaves, I reckon.” Applejack called out as she stepped off the treadmill she and Big Mac had been taking turns on to power Twilight’s machines while she did her tests. “So did ya’ll find anythin’ Sugercube?” Twilight levitated a small checklist she had made while running tests as the orange farmpony walked up next to her. “Well with this we’ve successfully ruled out any internal causes. All my tests say nothing her body is doing could be causing this and she’s not using any magic herself. This means that whatever is causing it is definitely external magic.” Applejack just blinked slightly in response before nodding. “So what do we do now?” Applejack asked Now we just have to find out where the magic is coming from.” Applebloom fidgeted in place as Twilight’s horn lit up with magic and a small light shone from Twilights horn and moved over her. “How much longer is this gonna take?” Applebloom whined, Twilight could understand, the little filly had just spent the past few hours sitting on a stool with a colander on her head while Twilight ran her tests. “This should be the last test I thi-“ Twilight cut off as the light flickered and disappeared as it passed over Applebloom’s necklace. “That...shouldn’t happen...” Twilight tried again but no matter how much she tried, the light disappeared over the necklace, as if the magic that fueled it was being drank away. “What’s wrong Twilight?” Applejack leaned in over her friend’s shoulder looking worried. “I think I may have just found the culprit…oh no.” Twilight’s eyes widened as she moved the feathers decorating the necklace aside and found the centerpiece of the necklace. “What, what is it!?” Twilight looked out a nearby window at Sweet Apple Acres, bathed in gold as the sun began to set and cast long shadows over everything before looking over at her friend. “That thing in the center of the necklace is what’s causing this. It’s a magic item known as a talisman and because of it we’re all in danger. Applejack, I need you to listen closely and trust me...”

--

Far away in Canterlot, Celestia lowered the sun as Luna rose into the sky to raise the moon with her power as was her ancient duty. As the last rays of sunlight faded, shadows began to move across Ponyville. With unbelievable speed, the raced through Ponyville, over trees, holes, and buildings as if they were all flat terrain. They converged on the small farmhouse on the outskirts of town, surrounding it. The dark spirits known as shadow khan rose, seemingly from the very darkness all across Sweet Apple Acres. Quietly they moved across the field to the small home and the lone light that shone from a second floor window. The first few reached the entrance, there was no sound coming from the home but the spirits knew their target was there.

“KRAKKOW!!”

The door flew off its hinges without a moments resistance and sailed across the landscape, slamming into the group of shadowy creatures as it flew and continuing on, barely impeded. A large, red pony brought his legs back down, turned around, and stepped out of the broken doorway followed by a smaller orange pony in a brown hat. Applejack looked over the crowd of shadow khan, the door had surprised them and brought a large number down. Some seemed to disappear, fading into a small cloud of darkness while others merely picked themselves up after a moment. She couldn’t get an exact number but she figured there must’ve been nearly fourty of the things currently on her land, crouching down and preparing to fight. Applejack looked them all over silently before nodding and smiling slightly. “Well howdy! Name’s Applejack, of the Apple family! I reckon ya’ll must be the low-down varmints who went and put mah friend Twilight in the hospital for a while?” Applejack dug her hooves into the dirt and stomped, lowering her head and preparing to charge. “Nopony, and I mean nopony! Hurts. Mah. Friends.” The creatures only response was to charge and the apple siblings did the same. The shadow khan quickly closed the distance, three leapt high into the air and came down in an attempt to land on the two farm ponies. Applejack reared up on her hind legs, just barely avoiding the falling punch and then put all her weight into coming back down, slamming her front hooves into the creatures back and flattening him into the ground. The second creature managed to land on Applejack’s back, Applejack merely grinned at that and began to buck and kick wildly. “Welcome to the rodeo partner!” The surprise rider was bucked off just in time as another spun around in front of her, aiming a kick at the side of her head. Applejack ducked at the last minute, the kick merely taking her hat instead of slamming into her head. Spinning around on her front hooves, she drew her hind legs back and kicked out, slamming them into the creatures torso and sending it flying. Looking over during the brief lag, Applejack was surprised to find her brother under a pile of several of the attackers. She just chucked and got back to her own fight, not needing to watch to now what would happen. A moment later, a soft “Nope.” Was heard and shadow khan flew through the air.

Twilight was quiet as she sat alone upstairs, pots and pans littered the floor around her and the talisman sat on the ground in front of her surrounded by a pink bubble. She’d found she couldn’t teleport the talisman away to her library due to it eating away her magic, but she could use magic around it. This force field would protect the talisman for as long as she maintained it, meaning the shadow khan wouldn’t be able to take it without going through her first. Her ear twitched as she heard yelling and crashing from outside. Applejack and Big Macintosh must be fighting them already. She’d sent Granny Smith and Applebloom away as soon as she realized the shadow khan would be attacking the farm that night. She walked over to the window to look down and gasped. It was true she hadn’t gotten a good count of them but she was certain there were more this time than when she had been attacked, but why? “...The talisman he got back! The demon must be getting stronger!” Twilight was wrenched from her thoughts as she found herself face to face with one of the creatures. Some of them had broken off from Applejack and Big Macintosh and attempted to sneak into the house to steal the talisman. Twilight jumped back to the center of the room as the creature stared at her for a moment, it looked down at the talisman in the glowing sphere for a moment before leaping into the room, more quickly poured in after. Before long the room was filled with five of the creatures surrounding Twilight. Twilight felt a familiar panic beginning to well up inside her but she quickly trampled it down. She wasn’t the same as last time, she’d been preparing for this. Taking a deep breath, she levitated the pots and pans into the air around her and glared at the shadows surrounding her. They began to move, and so did she. One of the shadows immediately tried to sweep her legs out from under her, Twilight simply hopped in place and sent one of the pots in a hard arch into the shadows jaw, knocking it flat on its back. Twilight moved a pan by her head as one attempted to punch her from the right, the thick metal frying pan taking the blow with nothing more than a sharp clang unlike the wooden planks from that night. Taking advantage, she sent another pot flying to strike the creature along its middle, staggering it for a moment. In that moment, she brought the frying pan she’d used to block up over her head and down onto a third shadow before letting it continue its arch under her into an uppercut at the second. Of the five shadows that had slipped into the room, three were flat on the ground. The last two charged and leapt with a kick at Twilight. Twilight in turn drew the two pots back and sent them forward, colliding with their kicks and knocking them off balance before lashing out with two quick strikes of the pan. Twilight looked at the five downed creatures as two began to disappear and the rest tried to rise to their feet, levitating the force field containing the talisman and bringing it to hover just behind her, she raced from the room and down the stairs to join her two friends fighting outside.

--

The sun was beginning to rise once more over Equestria. As the sun’s rays fell over Sweet Apple Acres, it illuminated a scene that seemed to belong in a war zone. All across the fields, creatures in dark garb lay scattered and beaten, fading into clouds of darkness as the light passed over them. At the top of the hill surrounded by the disappearing shadows sat three ponies. Tired, worn, and a little bruised Twilight smiled as she felt the warmth of the sun’s rays pass over her. It hadn’t been perfect, once she’d gotten to the main group things got a lot harder to fight, but she’d done it. She sat there with Applejack and Big Macintosh feeling proud, she’d protected the talisman like her Princess had asked of her, she’d worked hard with the palace guards and she’d defeated the same creatures that had beaten her before. She and her friends had won. “Well, that was one hay of a tussel!” “Eeyup!” Applejack chuckled tiredly as her brother agreed. “Haven’t felt this tired since Ah tried to buck all the trees mahself.” Twilight smiled a little remembering the event. “Twilight.” The purple unicorn looked over her friend who was watching her with a serious expression on her face. “Ah learned to rely on mah friends that day. I won’t never forget that. Don’t ya’ll forget it neither. This mission ya’ll got from Princess Celestia is shapin’ up to be more than a mite dangerous. Don’t ya’ll try to do it all on your own. After all, nopony, and Ah mean nopony, hurts mah friends.” Applejack smiled as she finished and Twilight couldn’t help but smile a little as she nodded taking it all in. She hugged the orange farmpony tightly and both held back a wince as a few bruises protested the only way they could. That done Twilight released her magic, dropping the pots and pan and the talisman. Picking up the small magic stone in her mouth, she waved to her friends before heading off down the road to her home to seal the talisman up behind a more powerful field until the rest were collected.

--

Shendu’s eyes flashed brightly red with anger as the shadow khan returned, defeated and empty handed. “So, someone attempts to impede my resurrection...” light began to build in the mouth of the statue just before a stream of flames roared out, bathing the ruined chamber in an orange light. “...I shall not stand for this impudence! I shall live again! And this interloper shall learn what it means to oppose Shendu!” The shadow khan bowed lower before their sealed master and disappeared. Unknown to those present, a blue unicorn hid outside, peering in through one of the windows of the ruined chamber. “The Great and Powerful Trixie...thinks it might be best if she just moved on.” The blue unicorn whispered to herself as the creatures disappeared and the light in the talking statue’s eyes began to fade. She wasn’t sure what any of these creatures were, but something deep inside her told her this was dangerous and that she shouldn’t be here. Trixie turned and, crouching low, began to sneak away from the window as quietly as she could. “...if you think you are hidden from my notice, you are a fool.” Trixie froze as she heard the statue speak again behind her. She felt the ground shake and saw it crack as large powerful looking creatures rose out and towered over her. Trixie knew what these were, dragons, dozens of them. Trixie felt frozen, this was far worse than the fear she had felt the very first time she’d ever gone on stage before. She gulped and stood as tall as she could, just like that first day, she would get through this and excel doing so. “Hmph! Is this supposed to impress me? The Great and Powerful Trixie? Trixie defeated an Ursa Major with my powers! I few oversized lizards would be nothing to the Great and Powerful Trixie!” She said, trying to put as much confidence into her voice as possible. “Powerful?” The statue hissed back. “The magic I feel from you is pitiful, barely capable of cheap parlor tricks and illusions.” Trixie felt warm, anger and embarrassment burning in her face. Ever since she’d been shown up by Twilight Sparkle, every town she’d visited had responded in much the same way. Even this statue seemed to know of her embarrassment. The warmth turned to frozen fear in an instant as she saw the dragons, their eyes glowing an unusual, malevolent red rearing back to strike. Just as they opened their maws and prepared to dart down and devour the little blue unicorn, light flashed in their eyes and they stopped in their tracks. Trixie stared at the rows of teeth surrounding her before something behind her caught her attention completely. “Do you desire power?” the voice hissed as if right by her ears.

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Two down! Hope you like it. Sorry again that it took so long. Please comment/review! I’d love to hear some feedback!

Comments

[nightmaster0]

Theve got the Ox and Trixie has entered the picture. Where will Twilight keep the Ox and the other Talismans she retrieves? And when will the rest of the mane six find out about her mission?

[p0nypanda]

Jakcie Chan Adventures? images2.fanpop.com/image/photos/11200000/Uncle-jackie-chan-adventures-11293218-300-343.jpg
static.fjcdn.com/pictures/Jackie+Chan+s+Uncle.+Remember+this_e80931_3516735.jpg

[MythrilMoth]

Oh my god, a JCA crossover? Bookmarked for later!

[Uzume Tennouboshi]

159987 Makes sense.

Because magic must defeat magic!

[Violet Runner]

I was half expecting Iron Will to have the Ox Talisman.

One More Thing! Trixie's Valmont eh? Can't wait to see who you choose for Ratso, Finn, and Chow.

One More Thing! Here's a new spell for Twilight to lean: Yu Mo Gui Gwai Fai Di Zao! Yu Mo Gui Gwai Fai Di Zao! Yu Mo Gui Gwai Fai Di Zao!

derpicdn.net/img/2013/9/26/435796/large.png

[Captain-Brony]

Nice! Is Fluttershy going to have the horse talisman?

[not-so-anonymous]

3658331 i vote Rabbit. then Dash will be jealous. or maybe.... the Dragon.

[The Avenger]

3656784 One more thing. Maybe Garble and his two pals can be Ratso, Finn, and Chow.

[Violet Runner]

5054706 One More Thing! Bulk Biceps as Tohru/Hak Foo!

[The Avenger]

5054909 One more thing. Who gets Uncle's role? Doubtful its Celestial. She has Blacks role

[Violet Runner]

5055484 Zecora!

One More Thing! Discord + Rat Talisman (motion to the motionless)!

[The Avenger]

5055541 The Avenger: If someone does use the Rat Talisman to reanimate Discord that would be- *Uncle pinches my shoulder* Ah! *collapses and loses consciousness*

Uncle: You want a piece of Uncle!?

[The Avenger]

One more thing. Try separating those ginormus paragraphs in each chapter, preferably when a different character talks.

[ponylover2]

I love this more please